1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to clamps. More particularly, the invention relates to bar clamps. Still more particularly, the invention relates to a coupling configured to connect a pair of bar clamps.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditional bar clamps are well known in the tool industry for temporarily clamping two workpieces together in order to perform an operation on one or both of the workpieces such as a gluing operation. In recent years, a quick action bar clamp has been introduced to the tool industry. The quick action bar clamp generally includes several clamp components such as a fixed jaw, a slide bar, and a movable jaw. The moveable jaw includes a trigger handle grip assembly for releasably engaging the slide bar to allow the movable jaw to easily move on the slide bar relative to the fixed jaw.
Typically, the components of the quick action bar clamp are sold in a set rather than being sold separately. For example, most quick action bar clamps are sold in varying standard bar lengths, with the clamp components attached. The quick action bar clamps are generally marketed by the size of the workpiece, such as a clamp capable of clamping a 6″, 12″, 18″, 24″ 30″ or 36″ size workpiece. Among other things, one reason the clamp components are not sold separately from the slide bar is to prevent the users from purchasing one set of clamp members for use with varying slide bar lengths and/or from purchasing replacement clamp members and slide bars.
The problem associated with the standard quick action bar clamp is the limited range of clamping capability for each individual bar clamp. For instance, a user must purchase a 12″ bar clamp for a workpiece that is 12″ or less and then the user must purchase another bar clamp for workpiece that is longer than 12″. Thus, the user is required to have an individual bar clamp for each different length of workpiece. Another problem associated with the standard quick action bar clamp occurs when the workpiece is an odd length, such as 45″ long. In this instance, the user must locate a nonstandard size quick action bar clamp which may not be readily available in a local hardware store.
A need therefore exists for a method and an apparatus capable of utilizing standard quick action bar clamps for clamping a variety of different length workpieces. Further, there is a need for a method and an apparatus capable of utilizing standard quick action bar clamps for clamping an odd size workpiece.